Marley

I was on Pinterest, and I clicked on a link to a blog. It hit very close to home.

Inhale... Exhale...

It was a Tuesday on Oct 10th, 2012. Almost 3 months ago. My sister Rebekah was in town and with all our kids together, we had a houseful of EIGHT! So much fun, and some not so much fun, but it was busy busy. I honestly can't remember what had happened earlier that morning. Something, ha ha. But my friend Farica had just had a baby a couple weeks after Finn was born, and she was still in the hospital for swelling. I remember it was 3pm, because I was getting ready to leave with my dear friend Karen to go and visit Farica. I texted Karen to tell her that I was ready to go. I sat down and my 17 month old, Marley, came up to me. She had picked up one of my sister's son's apple and was eating it. I picked her up and put her in my lap. After a few seconds, she started to cough and choke. I looked at her expecting her to cough it up, while patting her on the back, but she continued to cough and struggle. I swiped the back of her throat with my finger and got some small pieces of apple out, but she was now wheezing and struggling for air. I stood up and turned her kind of upside down, hoping some pounding and gravity would do the trick. I was starting to worry, but still thinking it should come out. I picked her back up and she was not breathing, just a straining noise coming from her. I sat down on the floor and tried to put my finger in her mouth to clear something, anything out of the way. But her jaw clenched up and I cut my finger on her teeth trying to pry her mouth open. I looked at her sweet face and realized that it was blue. Her body was limp and her eyes were staring up at the ceiling. They were glassy and unfocused. And at that moment I knew that she was dead. I also knew that I didn't want her to die. I wasn't going to let her die! I brought her face up to my mouth and I blew into her mouth, feeling her abdomen fill with air, and then I flipped her around and pushed the air out of her. I did this over and over, I don't know how many times but it wasn't very long. I knew I would have done it forever if I needed to. I felt her tiny muscles twitch and it gave me hope. And within a minute or two, she took a very ragged breath, but it was her own! She started breathing!! She was unconscious but breathing. My sister, who had been on the phone with 911 the whole time took her from me and I took a minute to pick up the pieces of what could have happened. And what still needed to be done. I called Karen and asked her to come to my home. Mom was on her way home from work. Adam was almost home too, thankfully!! He arrived shortly after the ambulance. The EMTs checked her out and were glad that she was responsive to pain- they poked her big toe with their fingernails. Adam and I rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital, while Karen, my mom, and my sister followed behind with Finn. She had an x-ray of her lungs performed at the hospital and they saw something in her lung- she had aspirated the piece of apple! (I guess I cleared her airway with my CPR, but pushed it into her lungs) They life flighted her to the Children's Hospital of Atlanta, and Adam got his first ride in a helicopter :) The next 4 days were a little brutal, what with not being able to hold her and having a newborn in the PICU ward. She had two bronchoscopies and lots of steroids and antibiotics. She was my little addict having withdrawal shakes really bad, but finally, we could go home! Adam couldn't wait to get one of her famous hugs where she just squeezes you tight! I was worried at first about any neurological damage, but we were blessed that that was not the case. She was fine! She had slight regression of motor skills for a couple days, which they informed us would happen, and pretty soon she was the same happy-go-lucky 17 month old, even more careless than before it seemed, but maybe that was just me. My sweet sisters, Rachel and Rebekah, were so much help and I know that my sister Sarah was an angel watching over us as well. It's been a couple months now, and apples are just now popping back onto the grocery list, but after listening to this father's story, it reminded me of how blessed we are that Heavenly Father allowed Marley to stay with our family. That these children of mine are really His and he's allowing me to raise them and to form family bonds with them that will last for eternity, if I want. And I do. I want that very much.

 *Please look into the links in bold above :)

 Just after her arrival at the Children's Hospital, right before her first surgery.

And when I say surgery, they put her on a breathing tube and 

went down through it into her lungs.

 They had to tie her arms down. They mentioned several times how feisty 

she was when she started to wake slightly. I took

that as a good sign :)

 Finally she was awake, but not even close to full recovery.

 She liked the chocolate pudding!!

 After two hours back at home, she was back

to her shoe fetish :)

Marley today, with Chrissy :)

We are so blessed to still have her in our family!!

Introducing... The Amazing Finn!

I can't begin to describe how I feel about the baby finally being out! It is awesome :) I'm so glad that the delivery went well and there were no complications. It was a blessing! And...

Finn Edward Olsen

Born 9-13-2012, at 2:46pm, weighing in at a whopping 9lbs even, and 21in long. 

What! That's almost TWO feet of baby (and just that if he pointed his toes) that I had carrying around inside!! Did I mention how glad I am that he's on the outside :)))

Only 3 pushes and his sweet little self was out. Whew! Again, I was blessed :) He is also an awesome nurser. He didn't lose any birth weight when I took him to see the doctor 4 days later. In fact, he had gained 2oz. So Finn is a fine eater and I think this probably just sets a precedence for how much he'll eat growing up around here. The kids adore him. I'll post pictures of them holding him, which they want to do ALL the time, except for Marley. They are getting really skilled in hand washing techniques ;)

I absolutely love this picture of him!! Such a sly looking little guy, don't you think? Well, I do :)

Updates!!

Ok, shame on me for not telling anyone that I was going on a hiatus from blogging... ok, I didn't even know. The time just flew by! In fact, as my cute uncle commented on here, Marley is 1 now and the blog is def in need of updating. So here are some updates of what I've been doing:

*The kiddos*

Tripp and Chrissy were both enrolled in a little program called Puddle Jumpers (not at the same time). It was a Mommy and me class that was once a week and focused on learning to follow directions. Tripp almost did not make it in because of late registration, but Erick had gone a few years before, and those sweet teachers remembered me :)

I unfortunately did not go with Chrissy on her last day, her Grandma Olsen did, so I don't have a pic of her holding her certificate.

Erick graduated from Kindergarten!! Their end of school program was dressing up in assigned occupations. Erick was a mailman, but he told me he didn't actually want to be one when he grew up, lol.

*Birthdays*

Three birthdays happened during my absence of this blog.
Tripp turned 4 and I made an awesome Spider-man cake which he loved.

Then Marley had her first birthday, and also her first blister :(

And Erick turned a big 6 and had a fun little water party with friends. He wanted a snake for a cake, so it wasn't too terrible to make.

I love that I have figured out how to make fondant for their cakes, and even though I enjoy have ideas of grandeur about being a fabulous cake decorator, it's not easy! But the kids think I can do anything and as long as they're happy, I don't mind them thinking that :)

*Art*

I painted a few portraits, one being of my friend mom. Her name was Nelda Greene and she was always so kind and sweet to me. She passed away from breast cancer when Sarah and I were 16. But I hadn't seen Sarah since I was 10, when we moved out of the neighborhood. On Facebook, it's really kept me in touch with friends and family, Sarah and I reconnected and decided to get together. I brought the kids to her place and we let them play while we caught up on old times. We talked about her mom, and as I was leaving, I noticed that she didn't have any pictures of her mom hanging up anywhere. I offered to paint a portrait of her mother as a gift, and to choose from her favorite photos which one she would like. It was a very emotional goodbye and I really felt the Spirit strong as we hugged and I drove away.

It was an honor to be able to paint Mrs. Nelda and I know she misses her family as much as they miss her.

The other portrait was done in pencil of the brother of a friend of mine. This one was a little tougher because not only had I never met him, but she had a special request. Her brother was born with a severe handicap that made him bound to a wheelchair. He did not have a very long life expectancy, however he baffled doctors and lived to be in his early 20's. He had died earlier this year, and her request was to draw him, not with his mortal appearance of unfocused eyes and slack jaw, but of a healed, healthy young man. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I told her I would give it a shot. I was amazed at how it slowly came into focus. I don't know if this picture will look anything like him, but it highly resembled his sister, and I didn't even use pictures of her to do it. I just used what pictures I had of him, some inspiration, and a lot of faith. They gave this picture to their mom for Mother's Day. It wasn't received with as enthusiasm as they might have hoped at first, but their mother has it hanging on the wall at their house.

I just want to let anyone reading this that I know there is a place that we go after we die. It's not necessarily heaven, but it is a place of peace and rest from our struggles and trials of this world. And also a place of waiting and reuniting with our loved ones until the time that Christ comes again and we'll be judged. But until that time, we can know that after this life we will again see our loved ones who have passed before us. That is such a comfort to me. And I hope so to you all too!

And one more update... welcome baby Finn!!

Finn Edward Olsen is due September 20 and we are all excited to meet him ;)